Aside from the features which differentiate it from human resource management, strategic HRM is also noteworthy in terms of the basic traits which characterize it. In this order of ideas, Michael Armstrong and Angela Baron (2002) identify three specific features, namely the organizational level, the focus and the framework. In terms of the organizational level, it is noteworthy that SHRM is implemented at the wider organizational setting, since all of its goals, policies and resources reflect the business strategy of the economic agent. Then, it terms of the focus of strategic human resource management, this reflects the commitment of SHRM to use the people in a manner in which this generates advantages for the overall company.

"Strategies are business-driven and focus on organizational effectiveness; in this perspective people are thus viewed primarily as resources to be managed toward the achievement of strategic business...

In other words:
"They incorporate a full complement of HR goals and activities designed specifically to fit extant environments and to be mutually reinforcing or synergistic" (Armstrong and Baron, 2002).